Ordinary Time: Friday, November 17, 2006

Happy Birthday to my wife, who for some insane reason still puts up with me. Also, continue to remember Sarah in your prayers; she's feeling better, but still sick. Thomas tested negative yesterday for RSV again, so he'll be fine.

Old Testament Lesson

Joel 2:28-3:8

This is the passage the Peter quotes on Pentecost. Here the Lord tells us that He will pour out His Spirit upon all people, and they will testify to Him. That is what the Holy Spirit does, it glorifies and confesses Jesus Christ. Paul talks about testing the spirits, and that is the test of the spirit, does the spirit confess Jesus Christ and glorify Him?

That is the Holy Spirit does in our lives as well, it causes us to praise God. Today, the Spirit is calling you to obedience to Jesus Christ, and to glorify Him in your life. Today, will you respond to God's call? Will you listen to the work the Spirit in your life? Today, God longs to pour out His Spirit on all us.

New Testament Lesson

James 1:16-27

I believe James may one of, if not the, most important books in scripture for our modern age. James tells us over and over again that faith is not merely in what we believe, but in what we do. It is not just enough for us to talk about about having faith, for us to confess true and correct (orthodox) faith, it is not just enough for us to believe the Bible.

We have to live it. We have to obey it. We have to do it. The problem today is that we have a lot of folks that claim to love Jesus, but very, very few that actually obey Jesus. Our claims to love Jesus are worthless unless accompanied by a life that obeys Jesus.

Gospel Lesson

Luke 16:1-9

This is one of those passages in scripture that has always been a mystery, and will always be a mystery to me. I've read different commentaries, heard different opinions, but never found an interpretation that makes sense to me.

And that is not always bad. A friend told me once that once of the failings of our modern church is that we have tried to explain everything and have taken the mystery out of God. There are some things that we will never understand. There are some things about God that are just "other" and we will never fully know.

That is why it takes faith. That is why it takes trust. That is why it takes belief. Today, even if you don't understand everything, do you trust? For it is that trust and faith that is the mark of our faith.